Necromancer Survival

“Now, call out Seo Dawon,” Ryu Hyerin said.

     I only made eye contact with the female priest after confirming that Kim Olim had limply fallen into the arms of the angel.
When Lackey stumbled my way and tried to block me from her gaze, her holy defenses flashed again.
This time, Lackey’s left shin bone was smashed.
I clenched my teeth as I looked at my collapsed skeleton.

     “Don’t be so uselessly defiant.
I don’t intend to kill you.”

     “……”

     Ryu Hyerin spoke softly and paused her attacks as if she were about to show me mercy.
Furthermore, she approached me with an animated expression.
“I want to see Seo Dawon again.”

     She placed her staff underneath my chin.
Though her words were phrased like a request, her actions implied that my refusal to cooperate would result in a broken neck.

     When Ryu Hyerin aimed her staff at me, Seo Dawon exuded an eerie bloodthirst that made my back damp with sweat.
However, he faithfully followed my ‘command’ and did not step forward.

     I looked up at Ryu Hyerin.
“Your opponent is Kim Olim.”

     At those words, Ryu Hyerin looked surprised; she raised her staff with a smile.
As the blue jewel at the head of her staff heated up, I felt searing pain as if the skin under my chin was being burnt.
She mocked me as I tried to hold back my groans, “I said I wouldn’t kill you, didn’t I? That doesn’t mean I’ll leave you completely intact.”

     “……”

     “Or, is there a cooldown time for your skills? I can spare you the time for those to refresh.”

 

’

Cr–rrr-ick–!

 

     Her relaxed smile soon disappeared due to a strange sound–one she couldn’t ignore–originating from behind her.
The priest hurriedly looked back and was able to observe the scene I had already been watching…one step ahead of her.

[Krrrr–oh-oh-oh-oh…]

     Kim Olim was biting at the angel’s uncannily bent neck with both eyes closed.

     The angel tried to say something, but only the sound of escaping wind leaked from his throat–the very throat that the Paladin had already torn away.
Their white, beautiful hands that had penetrated the Paladin’s back began to tremble.

     When the angel’s blood-stained outer garment flew in the wind and swept before my nose… I thought it smelled incredibly sweet.
Like fragrant dessert wine.

     “W-What is this…!” Extremely flustered, Ryu Hyerin raised her staff towards Kim Olim.

Kim Olim finally opened her eyes and began to fish out the angel’s arms that were still stuck in her body, one by one.
Her open chest gradually healed and recovered, as if nothing had happened.
The same was true of her severed hands; once again, firm and stable fingers appeared.

     Kim Olim immediately grabbed her shield that had fallen onto the sand and mounted it behind her back.
Meanwhile, the angel that Ryu Hyerin summoned convulsed on the ground.
The paladin stared down at that disturbing figure and stepped on their body, rendering them immobile.
She grabbed a long and beautiful wing with one hand.

 

Rrrippp–!

’

[———!]

 

     Just like that, the Paladin ripped off the angel’s right wing; she was bathed in the resulting fountain of blood.
She raised her blood-soaked face and looked directly at Ryu Hyerin, “Back in the Tower of Command, we had to fight against Assassins who seemed to recover their health endlessly.”

     “…….”

     “I’ll make you feel how I felt back then.”

     The Priest’s face paled; however, she immediately stretched her hands out to me.
“[Divine Hold]!”

     She judged it best to take a meaningful hostage before Kim Olim could begin her full-fledged assault.

     However, I had predicted this to some extent.
I avoided the first rope of light; the second rope was blocked as Lackey’s ginormous blade plunged into the ground.

     Meanwhile, Kim Olim jumped high–almost as if she were flying–and landed just in front of the Priest.
At the same time, Ryu Hyerin’s guardian crosses began to rotate like crazy; the bright rays that had smashed Lackey into a mess of broken bones poured out endlessly.

     However, Kim Olim blocked the attacks with her shield or nimbly avoided them, expending no wasted movement, while continuing to narrow her distance to her opponent.
Ryu Hyerin raised her staff, frowning, as she began to activate some of her most powerful skills, “[Oh merciful Goddess.
If you feel at all sorry for this servant who is beset by a puppet of the night–]”

     As her first verse flowed from her lips, the dome-shaped light surrounding her became even more intense.
This skill probably strengthened her holy barrier.

’

     As the dome widened, I grabbed the now agonized Lackey and ran backwards.
Ryu Hyerin chewed her lips when she saw me, but she soon chanted her next skill.
“[If you remember the name of this poor servant wandering in this den of odious evils and the original sin–]”

     As her second verse continued, not only did the size of her holy barrier increase but the number of barriers increased significantly as well.
A total of 10 holy barriers began to attack the Paladin.

     Ryu Hyerin did not stop there; she plunged her staff into the ground and invoked her last skill.
“[I beg you, listen to your servant’s grief; please listen to this prayer.]”

     A brilliant light burst out from the point where the tip of the staff met the ground.

     As the light subsided, Ryu Hyerin’s body gradually floated away from the ground, and she became airborne.
I stared at her in surprise, eyes wide open; angel wings unfurled behind her back.
At that very moment, she truly resembled a heaven-sent apostle.

 

Crash–!

 

     However, as soon as she rose into the air, Kim Olim rushed forward at a tremendous speed and hit the golden barriers the Priest had manifested.

     The holy crosses began to chase and attack the Paladin, but Kim Olim was barely faster–they missed by a hair’s width.

     Various missed attacks rained down on the desert sand, causing a flurry of white sand to be blasted here and there.
Kim Olim slid on that shifting landscape and once again attacked the barriers.

Cr-rr-ack–!

’

     As soon as the Paladin hit her second strike where she landed her first, the barrier gradually began to crack.
Ryu Hyerin was no longer relaxed and shot full-fledged attacks of her own.
“[Divine Punishment].”

     Immediately behind Kim Olim’s back, above her head, below her feet, and right in front of her chest, four magical circles manifested; white lightning shot out from the centers of each circle, pelting the Paladin relentlessly.

     In one attack, Kim Olim’s body melted–her flesh severely damaged.

     My hands shook when I saw the gruesome sight of her white bones being exposed, but the Paladin was still able to lift her shield in that state.
She finally extinguished the barrier and, eventually, Ryu Hyerin’s defenses collapsed as one side was crushed.

     “How…” Anxiety gradually grew on the Priest’s face; she was utterly shocked that her powerful attack couldn’t stop Kim Olim.

     The Paladin’s nearly sublimated skin regenerated bit by bit until she returned to her original state.

     Perplexed, Ryu Hyerin looked between Kim Olim, who was approaching her, and me, who was standing far back.
“D-Don’t make me laugh…How could an undead withstand my attack…”

     Even as Ryu Hyerin fell into a hysterical panic, Kim Olim’s body was being restored; black smoke covered her wrists–the final injury healing site.
Even though the Paladin must have felt extreme pain when she was wounded, she still maintained her dignified aura.

      Ryu Hyerin used her barrier to launch a full-scale attack on her opponent, but Kim Olim didn’t avoid the oncoming attack and ran straight to the Priest.
Ryu Hyerin must have wanted to buy time when Kim Olim dodged her attacks, but she had predicted wrong.

     “Gasp…!” Ryu Hyerin, who needed time until she could use her next skill since she had just used a powerful ability, was helplessly struck by Kim Olim’s sword.
Of course, the Priest was not felled with that one strike, but it was enough to slice off her left arm at the elbow.

     Unable to pick up her arm, Ryu Hyerin had no choice but to quickly widen the distance between her and her opponent.
Kim Olim did not bother matching her speed; the Paladin walked leisurely and lifted Ryu Hyerin’s amputated left arm.
She lifted it to her face and placed her lips on the bleeding cross-section.

     Ryu Hyerin now stared at the Paladin with an utterly terrified face.
In turn, Kim Olim smiled back, baring her teeth.
“Yeah.
I wanted to see *that* expression on your face.”